Digital cameras have recently become popular with both home and business users, as they have come down in price, and as users have gained experience with them. A digital camera generally varies from a regular camera in that instead of taking pictures on film that must be developed, it takes pictures that are saved as image data files within the camera. The image data files may be saved on internal memory of the digital camera, or on a removable memory card or other computer-readable media that can be removed from the camera and inserted into a corresponding slot of a computer or a device attached to the computer. The image data files are thus usually uploaded to a computer, where the user may manipulate them, and ultimately may print them on a printer.
Having to upload image data files from a digital camera to a computer can be inconvenient, however. A user may first have to turn on the computer, wait for it to boot, and then run the appropriate computer program or programs to simply retrieve the image data files from the digital camera and print them on a printer. Therefore, some printers now have the capability of being able to directly connect to digital cameras, or have the capability of being able to read image data files from memory cards inserted into them. In the latter case, for instance, a user removes the memory card storing the image data files from the digital camera and inserts it into the printer to print the image data files on media, without having to employ a computer.
While such printers enable users of digital cameras to print image data files on media without using a computer, the users still have to resort to a computer in order to archive, or store indefinitely, the image data files in electronic form. The image data files may be stored on internal memory of a digital camera, such that the image data files need to be erased from the internal memory for the digital camera to be able to capture new pictures. Even if the image data files are stored on a removable memory card, such memory cards are expensive and therefore not a realistic option for archiving image data files. Furthermore, the user may find organizing such memory cards inconvenient, and therefore may not know which image data files are stored on which card.